Indoor Aerials

[SOD'EM]

Just bought a cheap and nasty indoor TV aerial for my sons TV in his bedroom. Just found out why it was cheap and nasty:p. Couldn't even pick up a radio signal.

 

Does anyone know a good indoor aerial I can buy that is not too expensive ?

 

Thanks

[locutus]

Just bought a cheap and nasty indoor TV aerial for my sons TV in his bedroom. Just found out why it was cheap and nasty:p. Couldn't even pick up a radio signal.

 

Does anyone know a good indoor aerial I can buy that is not too expensive ?

 

Thanks

A "good indoor aerial" is a bit of an oxymoron. You need to direct any aerial at the source (the TV transmitter) with nothing / as little as possible in the way. If you have a strong signal in your area you may get lucky, if a weak signal, even the most expensive will have trouble!

[Rooster-UK]

Does anyone know a good indoor aerial I can buy that is not too expensive ?

 

No such animal!

 

Many peoople don't realise the importance of the aerial.

A cheap and cheerful TV will give you reasonable results on a good aerial system. On the other hand, you could get the latest, state-of-the-art TV, but on a crappy aerial, you will get crappy results.

 

If you've got a good picture on your main TV, I would suggest that you invest in an aerial pre-amp/splitter. You can pick them up anywhere for just a few quid.

Connect your main aerial cable into the input, then take a cable from two of the outputs, one to your main TV, the other one to your son's TV.

There are kits available that contain, apart from the preamp, all the cables, plugs and a long length of cable to connect to a TV some distance away.

 

If you are going to feed two sets from one aerial, as a minimum you need an aerial splitter. That splits the signal into two and prevents one set from interfering with the other. Now the problem here is that although you get the full signal going in, you only get half the signal on each output so the signal would be degraded.

The preamp/splitter overcomes that problem by boosting the strength of the signal before feeding it to its own internal splitter, thus giving you a full strength signal on both outputs.

 

This will be especially important when you use digital signals,(Freeview, etc.) because a digital signal is very easily distorted or lost through a poor aerial system.

 

DIGITAL SWITCHOVER WILL BE WITH US SOON!

 

When that happens, the old analogue transmitters will be turn off!

 

Regards Rooster.

[SOD'EM]

Unfortunately, the lady that lived (and died) here before us did not beleive in TV. So there is no outdoor aerial leading into the house. At the moment, we use Virgin Media (Cable).

 

We have bought the kids new TV's last Christmas and they have freeview on them. Just seems a waste for them only to be able to use them for their games consoles.

 

Would expect it to be expensive to get a TV guy round to sort out an aerial. Would also mean drilling holes through the walls to get them inside. Don't think the Mrs would want that.

[Rooster-UK]

They usually drill the holes in the window frames.

[SOD'EM]

They usually drill the holes in the window frames.

 

 

She will not let that happen to her new Double Glazing frames.

 

No way Jose'.

[locutus]

Have you ask VM about extra boxes? I know a friend of mine had a couple of boxes in his house when he had VM

[SOD'EM]

Have you ask VM about extra boxes? I know a friend of mine had a couple of boxes in his house when he had VM

 

 

They want an extra £10 a month for each bedroom. Even then, the kids would have to watch the same as what's on downstairs. For them to have their own remote controls and choice of channels would be too much.

[locutus]

Just seems a waste for them only to be able to use them for their games consoles.

 

I know you can get BBC IPlayer on the wii and playstation 3 if you have wifi.

[griffzilla]

Not even in the loft?!

 

Freeview/Digital is a pain to get on a portable aerial. Possible, but you'll have to sit it on the window or something!

 

Unfortunately, the lady that lived (and died) here before us did not beleive in TV. So there is no outdoor aerial leading into the house. At the moment, we use Virgin Media (Cable).

 

We have bought the kids new TV's last Christmas and they have freeview on them. Just seems a waste for them only to be able to use them for their games consoles.

 

Would expect it to be expensive to get a TV guy round to sort out an aerial. Would also mean drilling holes through the walls to get them inside. Don't think the Mrs would want that.

[pompeyfaith]

Can you not buy an outdoor aerial and a longish pole to attach it to, then get someone who is competent up a ladder and fix it to the soffit.

 

Then as rooster says drill a small hole though the window frame in a lower corner.

 

PF

[SOD'EM]

Thanks both.

 

PF. We have double glazed units, I don't think you can drill holes in them.

[billy bob66]

it dose not cost a great deal to have an outside arial put on to your house,have a ring round and get prices,depending on how many rooms it has to go to,and distance will depend on cost.

 

better to pay a bit more for a top job first time then paying to keep getting put right later.

 

should not cost more then 60-80 quid for a top job,and thats for a number of rooms, dont forget sky only charge £50 for install and they take a lot longer.

[bargainhunter]

If you are lucky, maybe they can install it in the loft, so no drilling walls. May be worth exploring that avenue